They're here!! Finally my crochet hooks arrived today. They're beautiful. Really light and smooth. I can't wait to use them! I've decided on doing a round rainbow ripple for my friend who is preggers right now. I also want to do something for her daughter who is the same age as Ciaran (never leave out the eldest!), maybe a little cardigan or something? I can't wait to start! I guess this means I should finish up the several projects I have on the go right now.

finally finished my stepmoms Fat Bottom purse. It was for her birthday back in December, but I had issues with getting handles, so I didn't get it done until today. Its an offwhite acrylic with a gold strand running through, and I lined it with a cream satin. I think she'll like it as she's a gold/shimmery kind of woman!

Oh and last week I ordered these bamboo crochet hooks (the small and large set!). Apparently they were to be mailed on the 10th, so I am anxiously awaiting them. My friend is having a baby that is due beginning of June, and I am going to make a rainbow round ripple for them. I want that to be my first project for my new hooks. I'm so excited, they better get here soon!!

http://www.springbeautyfarm.com/hooks.html

ChiaoGoo Bamboo Hooks

ChaioGoo Bamboo Hooks are a pleasure to use. The bamboo is lightweight and warm to the touch compared to aluminum hooks.
These hooks are very strong and smooth. They are made from Chinese Moso bamboo, one of the largest and strongest bamboo species.
The hook size is permanently laser-marked, and on the other side is a Chinese symbol and word. The small hook set is incribed with the words Wisdom, Freedom, Peace, Love and Faith. The large hook set has Bless, Fortune, Longlive, and Joy.

Well we have put the disappointment of China behind us. Another baby is in our future, when and how are details to be worked out.

So in moving on we have adopted a new kitty! His name is Grissom and he is a 6mth old fluffy orange cat.

We adopted him from the Animal Health Technology program at the college my stepdad works at. They take in strays, or overflow from the Humane Society, and the students do all their bloodwork, deworm/deflea, vaccinate, tattoo and assist in the spay/neutering. Once the kitties are in tip top shape, they are then adopted out. I think its a wonderful program, the students are very loving to these poor kitties and nurse very sick ones back to health. When we went to look, there were two kitties available for adoption, three who weren't and six in quarentine. Our kitty had a stuffy toy in his pen, and I asked if we could have it to bring home with him so that he had something familiar. They hesitated and only agreed when I quickly followed up that I would replace it with more. That's when I noticed not all the kitties had a toy. While they are in very nice new pens, and there is a great play area for them, there is obviously no room in the budget for the little things like toys. So I decided to make some!

I used a pattern for the mouse and fish from the Crochet Pattern-A-Day 2007 Calendar, this pattern for the curly toys (http://web.archive.org/web/20011230155705/pages.ivillage.com/debbilynnc/animalitems/id1.html sorry I don't know how to link properly), and I just made up the other toys. They're all made with scrap ww and stuffed with catnip marinated cotton balls. My mom joined in and made a couple, and as she is adopting a cat from there as well, will be donating a bag of toys too. These toys work up super fast, and my current cat Willow thinks the couple we made for her are fantastic! Our plan is to continually make these toys for the AHT program so that every kitty they get has a new toy that can go home with them when they're adopted. Of course that's only if they accept these toys, but I can't see why they wouldn't. We pick up Grissom tomorrow, so I'll find out then!

Well, our grand plan to adopt from China has been shut down even before it began. China announced new stricter criteria for couples wanting to adopt, and there is a minimum financial limit that we don't qualify for. The new changes don't go into effect until May 1st, so if we get all our paperwork submitted today, and everything goes perfectly smoothly and quickly, there is a chance that we could squeak in under the wire. But there are alot of non-refundable fees, and all it would take is an employee to be sick for a few days and have our file sit unworked for a week and we wouldn't make it. We were crushed to hear of the changes, I can't imagine what we would go through if we got so close only to miss the deadline. So we have decided China is no longer an option.

Which leaves us in a conumdrum. There were many reasons we wanted to adopt from China specifically. Reputation, stability of the process, alot of the babies come from healthy women (due to the one child policy, although I recently heard they're now allowing two children). We don't qualify for most of the rest of Asia for different reasons (some don't allow adoptions to Albertans, some the costs are just too high, some require very lengthy in-country stays, etc). So now we're going to start looking at other places. Africa, Eastern Europe and South America.

But I have to say the wind was knocked out of our sails by this. We're really back at square one, re-evaluating what we want and why. We're going to compare as many countries as we can to see what are real options for us. We know we want another baby, we need to figure out what's the best way for us to do it.

This isn't really exciting, but I'm proud of it because I needed something, and was able to make something up to fill that need, and I'm really happy with it!

I don't carry a regular diaper bag, just a big purse that doesn't have sections. It was a pain in the neck digging through it to find a diaper, wipes, mat, etc when it was all just loose. So I made this pouch that is just the right size to carry all diaper related items so that when I'm out and about with Ciaran and I need to change him, I just have to pull out this pouch and everything is at my fingertips!

And as a small update, it doesn't look like G's new car is in yet. We were supposed to pick it up today, then we were told tomorrow, but as of 6pm tonight the car still hadn't arrived. Grrrrr!!! And now that G's old car isn't running anymore, we're down to one which is hard when we live on the farm. I hope we can pick it up on Saturday!!!

Well I really fell behind on my projects this Christmas. I'm quite disappointed. I think the pressure made it not fun anymore. Now that Christmas is over, I'm hooking away again. And I think that the issues I ran into with my SIL's wrap and clutch really put me behind. But I did get a couple more things done. Here is an afghan I made for my BIL and his girlfriend. They just bought their first house in a ski resort town, so I thought this would keep them cozy when their lounging at home. Its wonderfully thick being two strands, and I used 8skeins of Bernat Super Value and a 10mm. I used a HDC seed stitch and it worked up much faster than I expected.

And here's what I made for my kitty Willow. A cute little catnip toy fish, and a bed that fits the back arm of our couch. She has happily been playing with the fish, however has chosen to sleep beside, not in, her bed. Oh well, if she doesn't take to it soon I'll donate it.







I have also mostly finished another Fat Bottom for my stepmom's birthday, but had some problems getting handles. So I just have to put those on and then I can finally get it to her (only a month late!).

And I'm working on another secret project that was also held up by supply issues but should be done that this week or next as well. Its something that was inspired by something else I saw, but I did it myself with no pattern or instruction, so I'm very proud of it. Pics will be posted soon of both of these projects.

Now that the Christmas rush is over, I have a nice list of projects to do. I have promised myself that I will finish three Christmas stockings and a tree skirt by the summer. I figure this way I know for sure that they'll be done by next Xmas. Gareth was so disappointed that I didn't make any this year.

And I got a few good crochet related gifts this year. "Not Your Mama's Crochet" book. There aren't a ton of patterns that appeal to me, but its great to have another reference book. And I also got the 2007 Crochet Pattern-A-Day calendar. Again most patterns aren't my taste, but there are a few I want to try. So I'm very happy with both of those.

And I'm about to buy a set of bamboo hooks off the internet! I'm nervous as I haven't really bought much online, but this site was recommended on C'ville, so I hope it'll be fine. I just have to look into their policy on shipping to Canada.

And for non-crochet related news, we're adopting a baby from China!! We're at the very early stages, but spilled the beans to our families this Christmas. Everyone is really happy and supportive. I have started a blog related specifically to this, but its on blogger, which I'm not sure I like yet. http://thejourneytoourdaughter.blogspot.com/

Bye for now!